Mentor
by brokenhandsandhealinghearts
Summary: When Tony Stark asks Billy Kaplan and Teddy Altman to take a possible Young Avengers recruit under their wings, all seems good. But young Alec Kingston may be too much for them to handle after all.
1. Chapter 1

My name is William Kaplan, but everyone just calls me Billy. Unless, of course, you're Teddy Altman. Then you call me babe. But that's a story for later. I'm a seventeen year old gay, Jewish Avengers fanboy. And I'm actually living every kid's dream. I grew up on the upper west side of Manhattan, got good grades, and you could say life was pretty good. Boring, at best, but good. I mean, I had it better than some people I knew. I had a good relationship with my parents, had a friend or two, I was your average High School Sophomore last year. I admit I was pretty happy.

And then, Nathaniel found me. That's when everything changed. He told me about the Avengers Failsafe program, and I'll be honest, I fanboyed. Like a lot. Of course, being who I am, I believed him on sight. Sounds strange, I know. Weird boy in metal suit tells you that you're a superhero worthy of The Avengers? Seems legit, right? The thing is, though. I knew I had these weird powers that acted up when I was feeling something strong. I felt like Harry Potter for a little while when I was young. I thought I had Thor's powers of Lightening. It seemed to fit with what Nathaniel was telling me. So, I started my training, I became Asgardian, I became a Young Avenger, I met Teddy Altman. Trust me; I'll talk more about him later.

It wasn't until much later, once I learned that I wasn't an Asgardian, but a _witch, _picked up the name Wiccan, and met my long-lost twin brother, Tommy Sheperd, consequently learning that The Scarlet Witch is my mother of sorts (It's a long story, I really don't feel like telling it again.) that I realixed just how radically awesome my life is, even given some of the bad things that have happened. I became depressed for months after the crusade, but I'm okay now. It's all better, thanks to Hulkling. I'm going to say this a lot, but I have the best boyfriend….fiancée? Partner? Whatever. Theodore Altman is the best thing to ever happen to me.

Which is why now, a year after the crusade, now that so much has happened, I'm sitting on a couch in Avengers Mansion with Teddy's arm around me while we chat with Iron Man. A part of me still wants to fanboy a bit because I'm talking to Tony Stark. I brush some of my black hair out of my eyes so that I can see him better. He was smiling at me, something I don't get to see him do often, so it was nice. He folded his hands in his lap and looked to the two of us.

"So, Wiccan, Hulkling—"

"Please, Mr. Stark," Teddy interrupted shifting in is seat, forcing me to shift as well, "We're not in super suits here, please just call us Billy and Teddy, if it doesn't make a difference to you."

Mr. Stark nodded, laughing lightly, "Sometimes I forget that you guys are kids some of the time. You can't be super all the time. Unless you're me. Then you're super all the time."

This was the Tony Stark Teddy and I knew. Sarcastic, cocky, but in the kind of way that just made us a bit more comfortable around him. Some of the other Avengers, like Cap, were so serious most of the time that we just felt so stiff. Cap was all business, Mr. Stark was business too, but he had a way of making business a bit more enjoyable for us. It was also the fact that Teddy and I could easily sit so close together, and Teddy could have his arm around me, and no one was telling us to cut it out, or be serious. Sometimes, after a hard day of school and training, you just need to be held by your love; today was one of those days.

"What is it you wanted to talk to us about, sir?" I asked, finally speaking up.

"Ah, right. Thank you for getting me back on track, Billy. Cap asked me to call you two down to talk about your performance last night when you fought with Chameleon."

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked, always nervous now that I had overstepped in my powers. Ever since the Avengers threatened to lock me up if I couldn't control myself, there was always a nagging fear within me that I was going to take things a step too far, and I'd just be kicked out and locked up one day.

But Mr. Stark simply laughed and shook his head, "No, Billy, the two of you did everything _right. _Unbelievably so, in fact. Cap wanted me to ask you two to go on a special mission."

This sounded a bit odd to me. Why on Earth would Captain America want Teddy and I to go on a special mission for him? The way I figured it, I was probably his least favorite Young Avenger at this point in time, but maybe the year passing had given him some time to calm down about the whole ordeal. I had to stop being paranoid and coming up with five hundred different ways this could come back and bite me in the butt. However, Teddy seemed to be just as confused as I was.

"Pardon my asking, Mr. Stark, but…why us? And why isn't he explaining this himself?"

"Cap needs your specific talents, Billy's magic, and your knowledge of changing. And he isn't explaining himself because he's currently with Clint and the other West Coast Avengers touching base about something I'm not allowed to talk to you about."

I looked to Teddy skeptically, who just shrugged. It wasn't unusual for The Avengers to be cryptic about certain things they didn't think we were ready to know about, or were classified, so I supposed I should be used to it. Though I don't think the fact that some of the stuff I do is important to the safety of the United States will ever fully kick in. It all still sort of feels like a dream to me. As if one day, I'm just going to wake up and this will all have been one fantastic dream. I pray with all of my heart that day never ever comes.

"Good to know I'm only needed 'cause I'm a changeling," Teddy said with a light laugh.

I nudged him gently in the side with my elbow, "Oh come on, Ted. You're so much more than that. You're smart, and funny, and kind, and you care about people and—"

"Alright, loverboy. You can make out with your boyfriend later; there are serious matters at hand here."

I blushed lightly; sometimes it was so easy for me to just forget that there were people around when I was with Teddy. So often it felt like just him and I, and I ramble a lot as it is. Teddy found the whole situation amusing, and hugged me closer to him as my face turned a vibrant shade of vermillion. I turned to Mr. Stark and nodded so that he would continue with the explanation.

"You see, boys. There's a kid that, thanks to Vision, we know desperately needs our attention. He could be a great asset to the Avengers team, but he's also a big threat. He's a changeling, much like you, Teddy. But you only have one form, this kid has _thousands. _We need you, Billy, to keep an eye on him using your magic, make sure he doesn't get into any trouble."

"And where do I fit into this master plan?" Teddy asked.

Mr. Stark wagged his finger, "I was getting to that, patience is a virtue, you know. Anyway. This kid….we think you could help him, Teddy, in more ways than one. His family is very opposing to his using powers. He's a mutant, and his parents aren't very accepting of him. He's very low on morale and he's certainly no help to us if he refuses to get out of bed in the morning. Maybe once Billy finds him, gets him over to Avengers Mansion, you could….mentor him a little. Take him under your wing—I mean that metaphorically. He could really use the help."

"How old is the kid?" Teddy asked, sitting up and resting his elbows on his knees. Now he was interested. I smiled as I watched a look of determination fall over the blonde's face. You could see in his features the concentration he had about the whole ordeal. Now he wanted to know who this kid was, he wanted to help him in the way that he never had help as a kid. He wanted to be his friend, a makeshift older brother. These were the kinds of things that Kept Teddy up at night, and now he was going to get the chance to do what he had always wanted to.

"If my knowledge is correct, the boy is around twelve."

I let out a low whistle. Being twelve kind of sucks as it is, not quite a little kid, not quite a teenager, it was kind of a crappy age. Mix in the fact that you're the mutant child to mutant-phobic parents who are threatening to kick you out and have put you into a depression? How's that for a hard-knock life? It was my turn to sit forward. I knew what depression was like, and I wanted to help make sure this kid got better.

"What's his name?" I asked.

Mr. Stark smiled a bit and sat back in his chair, running a hand through his hair, "His name is Alec Kingston. Resident of Jamestown, Virginia, but that's all we know about the kid, which is where you come in, Billy. Starting tomorrow, we want you here getting as much info about Alec as you can. We need to know everything about him before we try and go get him, anticipate what's going to happen, you know?"

Teddy and I nodded, understanding what was to be expected of us. I thought this sounded pretty cool, we'd get to mentor a kid, a possible recruit for Young Avengers someday. Teddy seemed a little bit nervous, however. I rubbed Teddy's back gently as Mr. Stark told us the information we would need. When to be back here, what to bring, around how long it would take, and soon, Mr. Stark excused us to go home. I stood up and held Teddy's hand, casting a spell to get us back into my room

"_ .Iwantustobeinmyroom," _I whispered as we held hands. Quick as a wink, there we were, standing in front of my bed. I couldn't help but smile, slightly proud of myself for grasping control of my powers. It was a difficult feat sometimes, especially if I was very emotional, but I keep working at it. Teddy sat himself down on my bed and ran a hand through his blonde locks, letting out a deep sigh. I furrowed my brow and sat next to him, resting my head on his shoulder.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked.

"What if I'm a terrible mentor, Billy? What if I say something wrong and he turns out terrible What if I say something sarcastically and he takes me literally? What if he hates me?"

"Teddy, he's twelve. The boy hasn't seen enough of the world to really hate too many people yet."

"What if I become one of them?"

I sighed. I knew it was hopeless to try and get Teddy to think logically at a time like this, but I would try and at least cheer him up. It's the least I can do as his boyfriend, of course. I kissed his cheek and intertwined out fingers, rubbing his thumb with mine, a small smile forming on my face.

"Theodore Altman, I'm sure this kid is going to love you almost as much as I do."


	2. Chapter 2

The next day in school, I was almost miserable. What you have to understand is once you've fought a couple of super villains with your super powers, chemistry becomes very mundane. It becomes so hard to concentrate when you know that right after school you're going on a special mission for Captain America. And it's not even as if this has made me cool in school, most people don't know that I'm Wiccan. (Which I don't understand, it isn't as if my costume hides my face, but whatever.) I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, temporarily saving me from finding the number of moles in sulfur. I looked down at the message and smiled, looking at a picture of a very bored Teddy with the caption "Help me!" I almost laughed out loud. This was so like Teddy, he got so easily bored, and would pester me all day until I saw him again. I made sure the teacher wasn't watching and took a picture of myself looking equally bored, sending it to Teddy with the caption "Wish I could." To cover up for the fact that I was hardly listening, I did attempt my classwork, which appeared to be more than Teddy was doing at his school. I doubted I was getting any of the questions right. We continued to text throughout the school day, making plans to have dinner at my place tonight, and to see a movie on Friday.

I was thankful for the end of the school day, Wednesday s were always the most difficult day of the week. At my locker, I had the strongest feeling that something was going to go wrong. My suspicions were only confirmed when Ben Crawford and his goons began to talk toward me. I groaned out loud. School wasn't so bad, if you subtracted Ben Crawford. You see, when people at my school started to find out about my sexuality, most were pretty okay with it. You know, in a 'you can be gay as long as you don't try to make out with me' kind of way, which is better than other things. Ben Crawford was not one of those people. He took every possible opportunity to make my life a living hell, and today was no exception. Six foot three, a ginger buzz cut, and one of the star football players, I repeatedly wished I was taller as he walked over to me, but I couldn't use my magic now. Even if I could, I wasn't sure if I could change my appearance. I had never tried.

He shoved me into my locker so hard I was sure I was going to be bruised like hell in the morning. I let out a gasp of pain which seemed to satisfy him a bit, but it wasn't enough. He had caused me physical pain, now it was time for verbal abuse.

"Where's your boyfriend, fag? Where's your boyfriend to fight your battles for you? He can't protect you here."

"_Fiancée," _I muttered under my breath, remembering that Teddy kind of proposed to me last year. I couldn't wait to graduate so I could just marry him already. Junior and Senior years couldn't pass by quick enough.

"What was that faggot?" He had me by the collar now and was winding up for a punch; I began to whisper a spell under my breath.

"_Iwanthimtogoawa—"_

Suddenly, Ben was shoved to the ground in a flash by a blur I couldn't make out. Which, of course, meant it could only be one person.

"Tommy," I scolded under my breath.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Ben slurred as he staggered back up, rubbing his head where he hit it against a locker. His goons were beginning to back away in fear of my twin.

"That's none of your fucking concern. What _is _your concern is how _dead_ you're going to be if you keep giving my brother hell."

Ben simply got up and started to walk away. I heard him mutter 'freaks'.

I mumbled and grabbed my backpack before starting out of the school. Tommy rolled his eyes and followed suit. His white hair was blowing in the mid-December wind, and I was quickly reminded of how cold it was. I hugged my jacket closer to me and cursed New York winters, hoping to be warmer. I even briefly considered using magic to warm myself, but remembered that there were tons of people around who could see me. The walk home from school wasn't a long one, but the cold made it miserable.

"You're welcome," Tommy said bitterly.

"For what? Almost exposing us ay school?"

"For sticking up for you like normal siblings do."

This shut me up for a bit. If you said I had a bit of a weird family life, you'd be majorly understating the situation. My two younger siblings, Quentin (age ten) and Daniel (age five) haven't been quite the same since finding out I was Wiccan. Quentin became jealous as hell, and didn't speak to being special in a way he could never be. According to mom, he's always felt like he's been hiding in my shadow, and I feel really awful about it, but I don't know what to do about it. Daniel is the polar opposite. He already looked up to me a lot beforehand, but since finding out, he's begun to almost worship me. And that makes me feel worse than Quentin's jealousy, because I know that doesn't help at all. I try to tell Danny that I'm not all that great, but he can't see things my way. Maybe it's just the age difference.

And since Tommy has started living with us, things have been a little cramped. I now have to share with Tommy, and the younger boys share. It's not a huge deal, but the morning routine gets crazy, considering two out of four boys use their powers to get stuff done. It's a wonder my parents haven't kicked us both out yet.

"Kate's coming for dinner," Tommy finally said, breaking the silence.

I smirked in spite of myself, "Joy. So is Teddy."

Tommy groaned, "Oh this is gonna be a blast."

I couldn't help but laugh. Having our loves over _separately _was always a spectacle. Mother and father asking questions, being healthily intrusive, you know the usual parent stuff. And with Hanukkah quickly approaching, I knew this could only mean one thing from my mother. Having both Teddy and Kate over at the same time was even more interesting, partly because I suspected Quentin had a crush on Kate. I knew we were in for quite a night, especially since afterwards; I would have to go with Teddy back to Avengers Mansion to learn more about Alec Kingston, mystery kid.

I said hello to my mother when I went through the door and gave her a kiss on the cheek. I know she appreciates little things like that, and she'd been so great about me being a superhero and gay and stuff, how could I deny her something like that? Tommy said hello to her as well, and we proceeded to our room to try and get some homework done. I was halfway through my trig work when Tommy spoke.

"So what's this I hear about a special mission for Cap and Tony?"

"How's you know about that?"

"It's not a big apartment, Billy. Teddy's voice carries. So what is it?"

I shrugged, the numbers and letters on the page beginning to blur in front of my eyes. Math never really was my stronger point, "They just want us to mentor a kid they think they can use. No big deal. I don't think I'm supposed to talk about it."

Tommy rolled his eyes, throwing his History textbook off from his bed and letting it hit the floor with a loud thud that caused me to jump, jerking my pen across the paper and making most of my hard for naught. I groaned and gave up on that for now, choosing to tend to English. After what seemed like an eternity of reading and analyzing, I heard a knock on the door and beamed, dropping my book my bed and going to answer the door. Kate and Teddy stood in the doorway, both smiling at me and Tommy, who followed behind me once I left.

"Kaplan, Sheperd," Kate said with a smile as she walked in, giving Tommy a quick kiss on the cheek, "Thanks for having me for dinner, I had to get out of the house or I was going to die. My dad's being ignorant again."

Tommy pouted, "Sorry to hear it, babe. We're having spaghetti, hope you don't mind that, it's just easiest for Rebecca to make in bulk."

It still felt strange to me to hear Tommy call my mother by her first name, but she insisted on it and my father by his first name. Though we were twins, my parents aren't his, so he can't call them 'mom and dad'. But since he's living with us, 'Mr. and Mrs. Kaplan' just seemed unnecessary.

"I happen to love spaghetti, thanks for your concern," she said with a smile as she and Tommy made their way into the dining room. I was about to go there myself, but Teddy caught me by the wrist and pulled me into a deep kiss. His lips were chapped from the cold, but gentle and loving on mine, and I was reminded how nice kissing him was. I was looking forward to spending the rest of my life kissing this boy.

"Billy! Stop kissing your boyfriend and come have dinner!" I heard Quentin shout from the kitchen. I looked to Teddy and laughed as he wrapped an arm around my waist and followed me into the dining room, where everyone would soon be seated. My parents were at both heads of the table, and things were pretty squished with my brothers, along with Tommy, Teddy, Kate and I, but we always made do.

My father served himself a heaping plate of pasta and smiled to Tommy and I. Tommy was on my right, and Kate was on his, Teddy sitting to my left. He pushed his glasses back up on his nose a bit before twirling his spaghetti and speaking.

"How was school today, kids?"

Quentin spoke about getting an eye test in school and how he was probably going to need glasses like our mother and father. He complained about a really hard math test, and I offered to help him study for next time, which he appreciated. Danny told about how at recess his friends were pretending to be superheroes, and he pretended to be …well, me. And his friend told him Wiccan was a lame hero so he punched the kid in the face and got sent to the principal.

I teared up a little at the image in my head of my youngest brother sticking up for me on the playground. It made me happy to know that he had faith in me, that he thought I was so cool even though I'm not. Quentin simply rolled his eyes and called Danny a suck-up. My eyes went to my meal and I ate in silence for a little while, until my mother asked how my day was.

"It was alright, I guess. Nothing too major happened, no big deal," I said in between mouthfuls.

"Liar. Rebecca, Billy got beat up again," Tommy said, anger in his tone.

"Tommy!" I scolded.

My mother calmly set down her fork, "Was it that Benjamin kid again?"

I nodded, trying to keep as calm as I possibly could. I turned to see Teddy's face turning red with anger. I placed a hand on his arm in effort to calm him down, "Teddy, it's okay. I'm alright, see? No harm done."

"No, Billy! I'm sick and tired of this! You don't deserve it and God help that kid if I ever get the chance to lay a hand on him. He ever hurts you again and I swear—"

"Ted, calm down, okay? We'll talk about this later. Finish up your spaghetti, we've gotta be at Avengers Mansion in ten."

Teddy simply nodded and continued to eat. Dinner went along normally from there, and soon Teddy and I got up to leave, heading off to Avengers Mansion.

"Oh! Billy! Don't forget to ask about Hanukkah!" My mother shouted as we were halfway out the door. I cringed, having not planned on bringing the subject up at all.

"What was that?" Teddy asked curiously.

"My mom wants you to celebrate Hanukkah with us. Since we're like, technically engaged and stuff. But it's okay if you say no. It's REALLY oka—"

"I'd love to," Teddy said with a large smile on his face.

I gave him a quick kiss before using magic to get us to the Mansion right on time.


	3. Chapter 3

Cap and Mr. Stark were there to greet us when we got to Avengers Mansion, but they had serious expressions on their faces. This wasn't a casual meeting, today they meant business. We followed them into one of the test rooms, and I noticed that Teddy looked a lot more nervous than he should. I didn't quite understand why, since as of right now it was more my job than his. We got into the room, a small, grey one that seemed almost like a prison to me. What a place to be starting this assignment. There were four chairs facing in a circle in the center of the room. Mr. Stark, Cap and Teddy sat down, Cap instructed me to stand in the center. Teddy offered me a weak smile of encouragement. I knew he was trying his best, but suddenly I was very nervous, and he wasn't calming me down any. I felt my heartbeat quicken in my chest as I turned to face Cap and Mr. Stark.

Mr. Stark nodded to me, looking calm, "Go on, Billy. Let's learn about Alec."

I took a deep breath and nodded, closing my eyes before casting the spell, _" ."_

As quick as a wink, I was sitting outside his bedroom window. Rather, I was floating outside of it. It was snowing in Pennsylvania, making me shiver lightly. I was worried for a moment that Alec would see me, but as I looked into the window, these fears were quickly assuaged. His room was messy in the way that any preteen boy's would be, clothes scattered around, books and homework carelessly tossed around. He looked like your average twelve year old. Alec was sitting up on his bed, knees hugged tightly to his chest, and I noticed he was sobbing. I took another quick look around his room and noticed he had posters around of his favorite superheroes. I couldn't help but tear up a bit when I saw that my fiancée and I were up on his walls. It was clearly evident that Alec was a lonely little kid, but there was something else that I picked up on. _His hair color was rapidly changing_. I had seen him first with jet black hair, but now it was changing from black, to ginger, to a silvery blonde, and some crazy colors in between. I was shocked enough as it was, and then I heard the shouts coming from inside the house, voices I assumed to be his parents saying horrible things.

"He's a monster!" A shrill female voice shouted.

"I can't believe he's one of _them." _The male voice said "them" as if he had just eaten something disgusting. I was appalled; didn't they know Alec could hear them? Did they even care? I was shocked by the other things that I heard.

"Send him away."

"Military School."

"Drugs."

"Normal."

"Freak."

"No. No no no NO!" I whispered into the darkness. I staggered backwards and cast a spell quickly, "_ .IWANTTOGOBACK!"_

And I was back in the center of the circle. Instead of standing, I collapsed to the ground and began to sob. Teddy was quickly by my side, hugging me and frantically asking what happened, but my words were almost incoherent.

"T-Twelve...just a kid...can't make him go...freaks...favorite...Teddy..."

Teddy hugged me closer in almost a defensive way. He was petting my hair and leaving soft kisses on my skin in effort to calm me down. It helped a little, but the sounds of Alec's parents shouting still haunted me. Once I had calmed down enough to speak, I explained what happened to Mr. Stark and Cap. I felt so bad for little Alec, so sad and so stressed beyond belief and so young.

"We have to help him, Cap. We have to bring him back as soon as possible."

Cap nodded slowly, sympathy in his eyes. He placed a hand on my shoulder and Teddy looked ready to bite him. He let out a deep sigh, and only now was I realizing that this was one of the only times I had seen him unmasked.

"I know you want to help him, Billy. But he could be dangerous, especially if he's so sad. People become unstable when they're feeling strong emotions. I don't want to risk the safety of your or Teddy."

I stood up quickly, now very angry, "He isn't dangerous! He might kill himself before we get the chance to even mentor him!" I began to storm away, needing to get out there. I heard Mr. Stark call for me, and Teddy's worried shouts carrying above all of them. I didn't care enough to stop for any of them. I was angry now, and maybe I was proving Cap's point, but once again, I didn't care.

_"Iwanttogohome."_

And I was outside my apartment. I stormed inside and quickly Daniel was behind me, asking me how it went. I bitterly asked him to leave me alone. He sounded disappointed as I slammed the bedroom door behind me, apparently interrupting a kiss between Kate and Tommy. My mind was in too big a fog to even apologize. I flopped down face first onto my bed and screamed into my pillow. I heard Tommy and Kate get up and walk over to me. Kate began to pet my hair; Tommy was slightly annoyed in his tone as he spoke.

"What happened?"

Kate had a calmer voice as she spoke to me, "Did you and Teddy get into another fight?" Kate was the one who had to comfort me when Teddy and I got into our last fight a couple of months back. I shook my head and simply left it to the mission. They knew I wasn't allowed to talk about it much, so they left it at that. I heard my mom let Teddy in and I groaned with my face still in the pillow. I heard Tommy and Kate leave the room, and Teddy's heavier footsteps enter. My bed sagged lightly as Teddy lay down next to me and began to kiss lightly and my neck and cheek, pulling me closer to him. I felt his warm breath on my skin as he spoke, a small smile on his lips.

"Do you know how hard it is to hail a cab from Avengers Mansion?"

I felt bad then. I had left Teddy to fend for himself out there. I sat up and looked at my hands before leaning down and kissing his nose, "I'm sorry, love."

Teddy smiled and sat up, holding my hands in his, "It's okay. You were overwhelmed. Hell, I probably would have done the same thing in your place."

I smiled and gave him a light kiss on the lips. He was always so forgiving, and I'd never understand how. No matter what I did, no matter how much I fucked up, he always understood, always thought I had a justified reason. Sometimes he would get frustrated with me for the things that I did, but he always forgave me in the end. I was so thankful for him, and I hoped I always would be. Moments like this, when I was so distressed, it just felt so good to have him with me. It made it okay, and always would.

We lay in my bed for who knows how long and talked about who knows what. It's so easy to talk about everything and nothing with Teddy. Soon, however, the topic switched to Alec.

"What did he look like?"

"I couldn't see much. He was kinda small, and his hair kept changing color. You know he has posters of us up in his room?"

Teddy beamed, "No way. We have fanboys?"

I couldn't help but laugh; it was a pretty amusing thought in the end, one I never dreamed possible. "Yeah, the fanboys have a fanboy. Pretty fantastic, eh? He wants to be just like us. Imagine that!"

"And we get to mentor him someday."

"That we do, Ted."

After a little while, Teddy left and I got ready for bed. I didn't particularly want go go back to Alec's tomorrow, for fear in what I would see or hear, but I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. It is my duty as a Young Avenger, after all.

Tommy came back in and checked up on me to make sure that I was alright. It meant a lot that he was worried about me, but I assured him that I was fine. Whether or not I actually was alright, even I couldn't tell. Thankfully, Tommy didn't push the subject. He's not the type to get in my face about things unless he can tell I'm really troubled by it. Today I just needed to be left alone, I just needed to sleep. Right before heading go bed, I turned on my alarm and checked my phone. There were two messages, one being a goodnight from Teddy, and there was one from a number I didn't recognize. I read the message and was instantly startled by what it said.

"I saw you, Wiccan."


	4. Chapter 4

Note: Hello there! Author Mandi here. I'm sorry I take so long between updates. I have a lot of stuff going on with school and such. I'm making a note now that due to NaNoWriMo being on the horizon, I will be updating even less, if at all during November. Much apologies! And thank you so much for the positive feedback!

xoxo

Mandi

* * *

The panic rose inside me as I read those four words. Four simple words that jeopardized everything. I saw you Wiccan. Was it possible that it was Alec? Had he seen me? Impossible, it couldn't have been him. Besides, even if he had seen me, he was states away. How could he have gotten my number? The panic subsided slightly. It had to be someone I knew, someone close by. But who? How did they get my number, and how did they know I was Wiccan? Tommy could see me freaking out; he got out of bed and looked over my phone. He groaned.

"Calm down, Billy. It's probably just one of the supers pulling a prank, trying to get you nervous. We all know what a gullible wreck you are."

I didn't let it show, but the idea that it was just someone I knew pulling a prank did make me much less nervous about the whole ordeal. I nodded, put the phone down and went to bed.

The next day in school was average, dull. What I had really been looking forward to was after school when what was left of us Young Avengers were meeting at Kate's to meet and talk about our plans. Since Eli left, things were pretty difficult for us. We all hated to admit it, but we needed him. Still, life went on for us. We fought villains, became the heroes we so wanted to be. Sometimes I wonder if Eli keeps the news on when we come up, or does he change the channel? Does he have any regrets about leaving? Does he ever think about coming back to us? I wonder if when he does see us on the news, is he proud of us? Does he smile to himself and remember what that was like? Or have we just become a piece of the past? Maybe I'll never know, but I'd like to someday.

The others were already there when Tommy and I were let in to Kate's giant house. It still amazes me, her place, so large and luxurious, magnificent. The kind of house kids spent their entire lives wishing to be in. And this was Kate's everyday life. And she resented it. She was lonely before she found us, and for all the right reasons. Of course I never blamed her. Still, I couldn't help wondering what my life would have been like growing up in a place like this. Maybe I wouldn't have gotten beat up as much as a kid.

Cassie greeted us with a smile when we walked in. She was sitting next to Vision, which of course was not unusual. Their relationship was nice, but confused me greatly on some occasions. One day they were perfect, and the next Cassie was complaining that he was trying too hard to be Nathaniel. It was really exhausting to keep up with, honestly. Today, however, they seemed to be on a good spell, which would make things much easier for us. I sat down next to Teddy on one of the couches, who immediately wrapped an arm around me and asked if I was feeling any better, to which I replied with a thankful nod.

Katie spoke up and started the meeting, "Hey guys. So I know that Billy and Teddy have their own thing going on with Cap and Mr. Stark, but what have the rest of you been up to? Anything significant I should know about?"

My thoughts immediately went to my text message. But I quickly shook that away. Tommy was probably right; it was someone trying to make me nervous. Maybe another teen hero that was jealous the task hadn't been assigned to them. I had nothing to worry about...right? So I kept my mouth shut and listened to what everyone else had to say. Cassie spoke first.

"Nothing really huge. I heard that some of the lesser villains are making a comeback, but it looks like the X-Men have them taken care of. There's really not much for us to do at this point," she looked and sounded genuinely disappointed. Kate nodded and asked of anyone had anything to add. Vision spoke next.

"Well, there's always the petty crime of New York City, but things have been pretty quiet for us. I do not know if this is a blessing or a curse."

Tommy looked confused, "What do you mean?"

Vision shrugged, "Have you ever heard of the calm before the storm? Perhaps I'm over thinking things, but I'm not sure how long our calm is going to last."

Tommy rolled his eyes, "Honestly, you're getting almost ad bad as Billy over here."

Teddy's grip on me tightened, and I kissed his cheek. My boyfriend is very overly defensive of me, and I appreciate it, I really do. But sometimes he just has to understand that a little bickering between brothers is just that, a little bickering. Tommy doesn't mean anything by his jibes at me, and I know that. Kate, however, seemed to be nervous about what Tommy said.

"What do you mean, Tommy?"

He scoffed, "You tell 'em, Billy. Talk about how freaked out you got."

The group looked to me, all with expressions of concern. Minus Tommy, that is. I shrugged nervously, trying not to make a big deal out of the whole thing.

"I just got a text from a number I didn't recognize last night. No big deal, okay? It was probably just a prank."

But Teddy wouldn't take that for an answer, "What did the text say?"

I looked to the ground, avoiding the gazes of the group. I muttered, "I saw you, Wiccan."

I felt Teddy tense against me, and the room fell silent. Clearly they all thought as I did, that this was a much bigger deal than Tommy seemed to think it to be. After a few minutes of silence, Tommy broke it.

"Oh come on, guys. You don't seriously think that Billy's in danger do you?"

"Tommy, that's something serious. Someone has Billy's number, and now knows him to be Wiccan. We don't know who that person is. It could be someone dangerous for all we know," Cassie said nervously.

"So call the damn number and find out! It's really not all that hard. Call the number and find out who answers," Tommy exclaimed.

We all considered this option very carefully. It almost seemed...logical to me. Stupid, but logical in a way. And at that moment, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the text, from the very same number that no one knew. I read the message aloud so that everyone could hear it. The words made my heart stop in my chest.

"Call this number, Young Avengers, and it will be your biggest regret."


End file.
